


Heartbeats for Two

by AlwaysCryOverSpilledMilk



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Harry isn't Evil, Internal Conflict, Love Triangles, M/M, Rejection, Sad Ending, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, infinity war didn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysCryOverSpilledMilk/pseuds/AlwaysCryOverSpilledMilk
Summary: Tony lives through the first thirty years of his life thinking he doesn't have a soulmate.Peter, on the other hand, has two.





	Heartbeats for Two

“What’s a soulmark?”

Howard Stark looks to where the voice comes from, spotting his young son in the doorway. He launches into a scientific explanation of everything a soulmark entails, having no doubts Tony, although only six, would understand every word. Once he concludes the description, Tony looks even more confused than he had at the start of the discussion.

“Why don’t I have one, then?” Tony asks, a pout on his lips.

“Your soulmate just may not have been born yet.”

“What if I don’t have one?! Will I be alone forever?”

“I’m sure it’ll work itself out, Tony. You will not be alone, I promise. Never.”

Howard accentuates his hopeful words with a smile, and Tony believes him.

\---

Ten years later, he stops believing. He hardly ever sees his dad anymore, rarely his mom either. Most nights he doesn’t even pay attention to where they say they’re going. It doesn’t matter to Tony, not like it used to.  He’s grown so accustomed to the only company in the house being the hired help. Being sent to boarding school for years was hardly any help, either, just like the constant reminder that he still hasn’t gotten a soulmark.

His father had told him he’d never be alone, but loneliness is all he knows growing up.

\---

Five more years pass in a similar fashion, Tony’s only escape being college. His parents die and he isn’t around when it happens, which he’s honestly a little grateful for. It’s not exactly as much of a loss as the public expects it to be. It’s not like he knew them any better than the rest of the world did.

\---

Shortly thereafter, Tony inherits Stark Industries. He guesses it’s pretty cool, and the increase in his fame makes him feel a little less alone for a while. People care about him, he’s important, his name is known for more than just being some genius asshole’s son. He works, he runs his company and he knows he does a damn good job.

But at the end of the day, he still has no one. No family, no soulmate. He is completely, utterly alone.

\---

It isn’t until ten years later, when Tony is thirty one years old, that he starts really resenting the whole concept of soulmates.

He’s sitting in his lab, tinkering with some old project he never finished when he feels it. A burning sensation, itching throughout his entire body all at once. It settles after a moment of pain, the feeling only remaining in one spot: just under his right pec. Hurrying to see what’s happened out of nowhere, Tony rushes to unbutton his shirt and pull up his undershirt, revealing a small tattoo he is certain was not there before.

There, now permanently etched into his chest, is a black spider. Tony knows instantly it must be a soulmark, _finally._  His father had said it would be something that represented your soulmate plainly and clearly: once you knew them, your mark would make perfect sense in relation to them. But why hadn’t it shown up until now? Trying to remember any other details his father had told him, he recalls one thing:

_“Your soulmate just may not have been born yet."_

That’s fucked up, Tony thinks. To see if this could be the case, he whips out a computer from an adjacent table and looks up his situation. He reads through several articles and reports, all stating that your mark is made the moment your soulmate is born. If they’re older than you, be it by minutes or years, it will already be burned into your skin before you’re even out of the womb. If they’re younger than you, however, it will not show up until their birth and you will have nothing until that moment.

That freaks Tony the fuck out.

“No, no, no,” he mutters to himself. “This cannot be real. I cannot be _thirty_ _one_ _years_ older than my soulmate.”

The next morning, Tony looks back on the previous night and doesn’t think he’s ever drank more.

\---

Another ten years go by, and things somehow get shittier. Tony has yet to meet his soulmate, not that he particularly wants to, and he almost loses his life entirely. He finally has kind-of friends, he figures. A team, The Avengers. It’s a big step up from what his life had been before, although he’d never admit that (especially not to Rodgers). He’s got this bigger sense of purpose, finally feeling like he’s actually making a change. His inventions and projects from the past were useful, he knows, but it’s not exactly on the same level as saving people’s lives.

For about a tenth of a second after meeting Natasha, he thinks she might be his soulmate. Black Widows are spiders, after all. But, he realizes with a heavy heart, she’s not young enough, which is a sick thought all on its own to Tony. Besides, he sees the bow and arrow tattooed on her arm not much later.

When their team’s major dispute is underway, Tony dips into the files he’s kept on potential heroes for several years. He doesn’t look into them often, aside from adding new entries from time to time, but he figures now would be a pretty damn good time for some new recruits.

There’s one that sticks out to him. It’s a relatively recent file, only added a couple months ago.

A boy, Peter Parker, with the self-given alias of Spider-man.

Tony drops his glass, the glass shattering against the wooden floors as he thinks of the spider carved into his chest. As much as he wants to avoid the boy until he’s maybe at least a legal adult, the opportunity to meet the one person the universe thinks he’s meant to be with is presenting itself to him so easily.

\---

Tony tries to avoid lengthy conversations for a while after recruiting Peter and taking him with him to Germany. It’s hard, but he knows it’s what he has to do. He doesn’t know what Peter’s mark looks like, but he’s sure Peter’s figured out their bond as well (not that it changes anything.) Peter’s a smart kid, Tony can see his inner genius plain and clear (takes one child prodigy to see another), so he hopes maybe Peter understands why they cannot get too close. For now, at least.

He doesn’t think Peter realizes how fucking badly he wants to respond to all of his messages after the initial mission. It hurts, but he doesn’t trust himself if he lets them get any closer.

The suit is a gift, because it’s all Tony can give him for the time being.

\---

After Peter fights off the thieves at the ATM, Happy shows Tony the news report on the situation. He feels his mark tingling in accordance with his concern. His brows furrow together and he feels Happy’s confused gaze resting on him. Peter’s apparent recklessness bothers him a lot more than he’d like to admit, because it reminds him so much of himself.

Maybe Peter isn’t quite as smart as he’d thought.

\---

Through the Baby Monitor Protocol, Tony keeps a close eye on everything Peter does as best he can. He’s constantly got this painful urge to watch him, whether it’s to be sure he’s okay or just… to see him.

To see what he can’t have.

When Tony sees Peter in danger with the Vulture the first time, he’s angry. Disappointed. He’s been expecting Peter to be more responsible and maybe think before jumping into action again. He ignores the way his soulmark burns sharply as he takes in the downtrodden expression on Peter’s face as he lectures him.

He doesn’t understand, Tony knows. He won’t, not for a long time. He’s got a lot to learn.

Peter is still in the midst of his youth, and just thinking about it makes Tony sick.

\---

The one time he’s not watching is a mistake. Peter’s trying to stop the weapons deal on his own, in way over his head. Tony’s glad on some level he had called him, or else it could’ve gone much worse. If he hadn’t shown up, Peter… Peter could’ve died, he realizes. He doesn’t like thinking about it; it causes a harsher pain to erupt in his soulmark than any other thought.

Peter had almost succeeded in pulling the boat back together. Tony was almost impressed. _Almost_. He knows Peter had done his best, but it just _wasn’t good enough_. People nearly died, _Peter_ nearly died, and while he knows Peter’s just a kid Tony can’t hold back the lecture he gives in the aftermath.

“If you even cared, you’d actually be here,” Peter says, and it hits Tony a lot harder than he’d like it to. He cares so _damn_ much. So much more than Peter could ever even imagine. He loves him, and that inner realization alone hits Tony the hardest.

When he takes the suit back, he finally sees it. _It_. Peter’s soulmark.

Of course.

Somehow, he’s been desperately hoping it would symbolize someone else, anyone, just not _him_. Even something ambiguous like the Avengers logo, so it would be more challenging for Peter to figure out who it was. Tony knows it was futile to even imagine that, but he couldn’t help the wishful thinking.

But, just as it’s supposed to be, it’s so painfully _obvious_. It’s on his left hip, just barely dipping below the waistline of his boxers.

An image of the arc reactor is boldly imprinted on Peter’s pale skin, looking way too good there for Tony’s sanity and composure. God, does he want to _touch._

Tony holds himself back and asks with fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose in agitation, “I don’t suppose that’s a tattoo you paid for and had done by choice there on your hip?”

Peter blushes and shifts his gaze to the floor awkwardly. “It’s always been there…” he mutters.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Look, this obviously can’t work-”

“What?” Peter cuts him off, his eyes snapping up to meet Tony’s in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“You honestly don’t know?”

Peter shakes his head in response.

Tony drops his hand and turns around, walking to the edge of the rooftop and placing his hands on the siding. With a sigh, he says solemnly, “We’re soulmates, Peter.”

Silence.

Eventually, Peter asks, “You’re serious? That’s like… that’s a thing? Soulmates are a real thing?”

“No one ever told you about them? Your aunt?”

“No?”

“You never… asked what that mark was? Why it was there?”

“I did. I did so many times when I was young-”

“Jesus, Peter, you’re _still_ young!”

“You’re just old!”

“Exactly!” As the conversation gets more heated, they’ve gravitated closer to each other. Tony realizes this and takes a step back, looking away from Peter. “That’s the problem, Peter. I’m forty six years old, and you’re fifteen. That’s why this cannot happen.”

Peter stays silent for a painfully long moment after that, before quietly asking, “...can I see it?”

“ _What?_ ” Tony shoots back, voice sharp. He knows exactly what Peter wants to see, but it’s not something he should.

“Your mark. I assume you have one, otherwise you wouldn’t have already known before now… Please, Mr. Stark?”

Tony wants to say no, he really does, but Peter’s got this look in his eyes that has him stepping closer again. He relents, pulling up his shirt to reveal his own mark. Peter’s eyes latch onto it immediately, and Tony feels it tingling under his intense gaze.

“It’s a spider,” Peter says.

“Yes.”

“It’s _my_ spider.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Can I touch it?”

“I don’t think that’s a good i-” Tony starts to say, but Peter’s fingers are already grazing his chest, effectively cutting him off as a pleasant feeling bursts from the mark’s location and spreads throughout his entire body. “Peter.” Peter looks up at him, his fingers still slowly tracing the lines of the spider.

“Has it always been there?”

“No, it hasn’t.”

“Why not? How long has it been there? When did it show up?”

“Okay, Peter. You need to calm down,” Tony states plainly, stepping away from Peter’s hands and letting his shirt drop back down. “Look, it showed up when you were born. So I basically had to live the first thirty one years of my life thinking I was destined to be alone, only to eventually find out I’m actually just destined to be a pedophile. So, yeah, I guess I kinda resent it a bit or maybe a lot for that. Thanks, but no thanks, I’d rather just forget about it and have us both just move on. Maybe you should ask out that Liz girl? She’s pretty, much more age-appropriate.”

“Woah, woah, Mr. Stark, I’m really sorry you had to live with that but um. Maybe we shouldn’t move on. I don’t want to.”

“ _Peter_. Wow, okay, this is really not going how I was planning. Peter, you’re a kid! You’re in high school. I am not. I am far from that. It’s best if we-”

Peter cuts him off again, this time by kissing him. Tony isn’t sure when he even got that close, but what he is sure of is how fantastic it feels. His soulmark burns in an all too satisfying manner, and he loses himself for a moment as he kisses Peter back. After a moment or two, however, Tony realizes what he’s doing and pushes Peter back, taking several steps away himself.

“No, okay. _No_ ,” Tony says, voice firm. “That is not okay.”

“Why not?” Peter’s got that look again, making it hard for Tony to keep shooting him down.

“ _Why not?_  Peter, have you even been listening this entire time?”

“I have! But I don’t care that you’re older than me! I already know I’m in love with you!”

Tony’s heart swells at the confession, his own begging to spill from his lips. Instead, he says, “I cannot.”

“The legal age of consent is seventeen,” Peter says, almost voicing it as a question, as if he’s not sure it’s okay to say. “I’m almost that old.”

“I know that, okay. I looked it up a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s morally alright for me to me involved with someone your age. And trust me, I don’t typically rely on morals.”

“Didn’t you feel _anything_ when we kissed?”

It might be the look in Peter’s eyes, or the constant tingling of his soulmark, but Tony fails to stop his honest answer from coming out. “Of course I did! It… it felt _right_. But-”

“Tell me honestly, please, Mr. Stark. Do you feel the same that I do?”

Tony looks away again with a heavy sigh. “I do.”

“So let’s give this a shot! We both want to, let’s just forget about the age thing! It’s-”

“Peter. I said _no_.”

“I just… I really don’t want to let this go…” Peter tangles himself around Tony, who wraps his arms around him in response. “The universe somehow paired us together, so it’s like kind of a big deal, y’know? That _means_ something, Mr. Stark. We’re destined for each other.”

Tony places his chin atop Peter’s head as he says, “I know. It does mean something, it means a lot, Peter. But if anyone were to find out-”

Peter stops him by looking up and making eye-contact. “No one would have to know. It could just be our thing, y’know. Like we can just be us on our own away from everybody else and it wouldn’t even mean anything to the rest of the world. Just us.”

“Peter…” Tony trails off, unsure of what to say anymore. He looks into Peter’s eyes, so full of this enticing mix of love and determination. Against his better judgement, Tony leans down and kisses him once more. Before he knows it, he’s got Peter pressing up against him fully, kissing him back eagerly with an enthusiasm that takes Tony by surprise. Peter locks his arms around Tony’s neck, sliding his tongue against his in a way that Tony finds far too erotic for a fifteen-year-old boy to be capable of. Tony himself lodges a knee in between the teen’s legs, giving a slight quick rub against Peter’s obvious erection. This action brings a moan so absolutely _filthy_ tumbling past Peter’s parted lips, which instantly makes Tony’s own dick a lot harder. Peter breaks their kiss, dropping his head against Tony’s shoulder, breathing heavily.

“M-Mr. Stark-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Tony cuts him off. “I think we’re past that point. Given what we were just doing, I think I’d really prefer it if you just stuck to Tony from now on.”

“Tony…” Peter breathes out, testing the way it sounds.

" _Shit_ , kid,” Tony says, liking the way his name sounds coming off Peter’s tongue a little too much. Peter leans up to kiss him again, but everything is coming back to Tony. He untangles himself from Peter and steps back, shaking his head. “Nope. Okay, no way. I know what just happened is probably going to seem really conflicting with what I’m about to say, but you need to forget about all of that. We are going to _wait_ , okay? I’m not touching an underage kid anymore, because… _because_. Come on, Peter, we both know that’s wrong. So, we’re waiting. Nothing is happening until you’re out of high school and a legal adult, okay? That’s final.” Tony straightens himself out and concludes, “It’s getting late, your aunt is probably worried. I’ll take you home.”

\---

Waiting is hard, Peter decides a week after finishing Vulture off. Especially since he _knows_ what it feels like to be under Tony’s touch, how his goatee feels scraping against his cheeks, and how _right_ it feels to be kissing him. He doesn’t know how he’ll ever be able to make it two and a half years without getting to feel all the phenomenal sensations Tony gave him that day. He thinks about it all the time: when he’s in class, struggling to pay attention to the lesson his teacher drawls on about, when he’s laying in bed at night, already anticipating the filthy dreams he’s going to be having when he shuts his eyes, and, most of all, when he slips on his suit and swings across the rooftops knowing Tony could be watching him at any point.

Peter wishes he could just _talk_ to someone about it (well, _Ned_ , since he doesn’t really have anyone else he trusts enough with this), but he knows he can’t. He trusts Ned, of course, but he just doesn’t want to take the risk of anyone finding out. There would be consequences, obviously, not so much for Peter, but definitely for Tony.

So he waits obediently, hiding his misery from everyone.

\---

Tony throws himself into his work harder than he typically does for months on end, ignoring the obvious concern he’s been getting from Pepper and Happy. He needs to keep his mind off of Peter at all costs; he doesn’t want to get caught up in the way he felt kissing Peter that day months ago and end up doing something rash.

He also ignores the way his soulmark tingles whenever Happy gives him updates on what Peter’s been doing. At the end of the school year, Peter sends Happy a picture of his report card, which Happy forwards to Tony. Tony tries to settle the immense pride he feels swelling in his chest as he looks over Peter’s final grades: straight A’s, nothing less than what Tony had expected.

Occasionally, Tony will let himself switch over to the Baby Monitor in Peter’s suit when his computer shows it’s active and the kid is out on the street. He won’t even lie to himself about why he’s doing it anymore. He just wants to see Peter, in whatever way he can.

Two more years, that’s all.

In the grand scheme of things, two years is _nothing_.

So why does it already feel like an eternity?

\---

Just after the start of his junior year, Peter unexpectedly reconnects with an old friend.

Harry Osborn.

Peter is sitting in his room, mindlessly scrolling through Twitter, when he gets a Skype call request from Harry out of nowhere. He switches over to it and accepts it, smiling confusedly when it connects. “Harry? What’s up?”

“Peter!” Harry exclaims, grinning wildly. “I’ve got great news.”

“What is it?”

“My family is moving back to New York!”

“What? That’s amazing! But why?”

“Dad’s opening a new Oscorp building and wants to be around while it starts up. Which means for us, we’ll be together again, Pete.” Harry’s still smiling broadly through the computer.

“When will you be back?”

“This weekend. I can’t wait to see you, Pete.”

They don’t talk much longer; Harry says he wants to save their catching up for when they reunite in person. Peter tells May, unable to control his excitement on his own. After all, he hasn’t seen Harry since eighth grade when his family moved out of state.

Peter’s also a little nervous that seeing Harry again will bring back his old feelings for him. He really doesn’t want that to happen, now that he knows about his soulmate. Even if he can’t be with Tony now, he will be eventually and having feelings for anyone else feels a bit like cheating to Peter.

He thinks of Harry’s smile and how much he’s missed it.

Yeah, this is gonna be hard, he decides.

\---

Sunday morning, a knock sounds on the Parker’s apartment door. May hurries from the kitchen to answer, opening it up to reveal a boy she hasn’t even thought of in years. “Oh, Harry, look how much you’ve grown!” Her maternal instincts start kicking in and she begins fawning over him, asking him questions about how he’s been and what he’s been up to the past few years as she brings him inside and offers him a snack and a drink.

“I’m alright, thank you, though,” Harry answers with a chuckle. “Is Peter around?”

“He’s probably still asleep, knowing him.”

“Ah, right. It is only…” Harry pauses to check his watch, “noon, after all. I take it he still oversleeps into the afternoon?”

“Of course.”

“Is it alright if I go in and wake him up?”

“Sure! Go on, have fun.”

Harry nods and walks over to Peter’s door, knocking twice before creaking the door open slowly. Seeing Peter sleeping heavily, he steps all the way in and shuts the door behind him, making his way over to the bed. He sits down on the edge and looks around the room, appreciating the fact that Peter clearly hasn’t changed and is still just as much of an adorable nerd as he used to be. Looking at Peter himself, Harry thinks, “Definitely adorable.” Peter’s grown up well, Harry thinks, noticing how the blankets are only pulled up to Peter’s hips. He stares at his old friend’s wonderfully sculpted abs and wonders how those got there while also shoving down the pressing desire to just _touch_.

Eventually, Harry decides he’s definitely being creepy and says, “Peter… Hey, Pete. Wake up, buddy.” He shakes Peter’s shoulder and pokes his face in attempts to wake him up. “Pete!”

Peter’s eyes open slowly, blinking a few times as he wakes up. He sees Harry sitting beside him and quickly sits up. “Harry! You’re here! Hi!”

Harry laughs at his behavior. “Hey, Pete. Sorry, I guess I should’ve come later on. I forgot you don’t know how to get up before noon on the weekends.”

“I like sleep!”

“I know,” Harry says, chuckles fading off. “Are you busy today?”

Peter gets out of bed, flicking on the light switch and turning back to Harry. He was planning on going on patrol later on, but it can wait. “Nah, I’m all yours.”

Harry stares at him, looking him over fully, and thinks about how much he wishes Peter really was _his_. He’s always had that vague want for Peter, but seeing him now, a muscled beauty clad only in boxers (is that Iron Man heads patterned on them?), he feels the desire a lot more intensely. After all, he’s got a mark to prove he’s destined to be with him. Briefly, he wonders if Peter’s aware of that. When he looks back up to Peter’s face, he’s pretty sure he sees a faint blush. “Great,” he says.

Peter, fairly certain Harry was just blatantly checking him out, asks, “What did you have in mind?”

“Well,” Harry says, standing up and approaching Peter. “I’ve got a lot of things in mind…” he tells him, lightly brushing a strand of hair off of Peter’s forehead and letting his hand cup Peter’s cheek.

Peter gulps, attempting to quell his budding anxiety at being so very close to Harry. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry concludes, looking Peter in the eye and leaning closer. He’s not sure Peter wants it to happen, but he’s definitely getting some vibes. He’s letting Peter make the final move, though, just to be sure.

Peter doesn’t disappoint, removing the final bit of space between them and meeting Harry halfway for a kiss he’s more or less always dreamt of since middle school. Rather quickly, Harry’s hands find their way to Peter’s hips and Peter’s find theirs to Harry’s shoulders. There’s no space between them anymore as Harry slowly starts moving Peter towards his bed. They tumble on together, landing with Harry on top of Peter. He pauses, taking in the sight of the boy beneath him and smirking faintly. “Peter Parker… Oh, how I have missed you,” he says, leaning back down to recapture his friend’s lips.

Peter bucks his hips up against Harry’s, craving more friction for his growing erection. Harry grinds down simultaneously, drawing a moan from both of them. “H-Harry…” Peter breathes out, wanting more but not knowing how to voice it.

“Pete, do you wanna…?” Harry doesn’t finish the question, but Peter knows what he means.

Peter nods eagerly in response. “May will be leaving for work soon.” He’s pretty sure that matters. As if on cue, they hear May call from the other room that she’s heading out, the main door shutting afterward.

“No need to be quiet, then,” Harry says, grinning wickedly. He pulls his sweater off and undoes his belt, quickly shucking off his pants as well. “Hey, Pete?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you a virgin?” Peter doesn’t voice an answer, but seeing him blush and look away tells Harry all he needs to know. “Are you sure you want your first time to be with me?” Harry does. He’s gotten down and dirty with several boys and girls, but he’s never gone all the way with anyone. He’s positive he wants to hit his first homerun with Peter, but he’ll stop immediately if it’s not what Peter wants.

“I-” Peter doesn’t know. He was kind of saving himself for Tony, after all, but what if Tony doesn’t find out? What if Tony doesn’t even want to have sex with him? What if Tony’s met someone else and isn’t even waiting for Peter? What if what if what if what if- “Yes.”

Harry smiles, pulling his briefs off and Peter’s boxers after. At some point, Peter notices what he’s pretty sure could be Harry’s soulmark on the back of his shoulder, but he doesn’t comment. Harry didn’t say anything when he saw his.

\---

A few hours later, Peter and Harry sit on the couch with the TV on, finally catching up.

“So, where will you be going to school?” Peter asks, switching the subject.

Harry smiles. “Midtown Tech.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah! Dad wanted to send me somewhere more expensive, but I kept asking about it because I wanted to go to school with you again. Eventually he caved, just to get me to shut up.”

“That’s awesome!” Peter grins widely and excitedly hugs Harry, who tightly wraps his arms around him in response. After a prolonged moment of just holding each other, Peter pulls back slightly and they look into each other’s eyes. Harry’s pretty sure they’re having a ‘moment’ so he seizes the opportunity and softly presses his lips to Peter’s. Peter shifts into his friend’s lap, his arms wrapping themselves loosely around Harry’s neck as he kisses him back. It stays light, intimate in a way neither of them have truly experienced before.

They kiss for a few minutes before ending it, Peter resting his forehead against Harry’s. “So, um… Will what we’ve done today be a one-time thing or…?”

“Pete, we can do that however many times you want to,” Harry says with a small smile. “Just say the word, and we can do anything.”

“Can we…” Peter knows what he wants to ask, but he’s not so sure he should. Harry isn’t his soulmate… But then again, he considers, his soulmate doesn’t want him. Because he’s a _kid._ Maybe he should just be with another kid, then, someone his own age. “Can we date?”

“Pete…” Harry wasn’t expecting that, but he’s also definitely not opposed to it. “Hell yeah.”

\---

“So, I thought you might be interested in knowing Peter changed his Facebook status to ‘in a relationship’ the other day,” Happy says without prompt as he walks into Tony’s office.

Tony’s typing halts abruptly. “You’re friends with the kid on Facebook?”

“You aren’t?”

“I don’t have an account, everyone already knows who I am.”

“Is that really what bothers you about what I just said?”

Tony sighs, running a hand through his hair. “No, no, obviously not. God, why didn’t I think this would happen?” He drops his head on the desk and groans in frustration. “Who is it? Anyone we know?”

“Well, that’s the bad part. It is.”

“Quit being dramatic and tell me who it is, Happy.”

“Harry Osborn.”

“...Osborn? As in, _Norman Osborn_?”

“Norman’s son.”

“Of course. Of course the kid goes for the son of one of my rival industries’ founders. Is he trying to get my attention again? Is this revenge or something?” Tony bangs his head off his desk a few times before sitting back up. “How does he even know this guy?”

“From what I can tell, they were friends when they were younger. The Osborns just moved back upstate-”

“For the new Oscorp opening, yeah, yeah. Of course.”

“Tony, he looks happy. Maybe it’s not a bad thing.”

“Whatever.” Happy leaves, exasperated, and Tony lets himself be angry at the development for his real reasons. He shouldn’t be surprised that Peter would just date someone else. After all, Tony had dismissed him and told him no, acted like he didn’t want him.

But God, does Tony want him.

Even so, Tony knows damn well he can’t have him. He’s far too young, and now he belongs to someone else.

It doesn’t stop his jealousy, nor does it keep him from hacking Peter’s phone a month later and finding a photo album titled ‘Harry.’ He looks through it, at first seeing only older pictures of them together from their youth. Clearly Happy had been correct and they’ve been friends for quite some time; Tony can tell how young they are in the oldest pictures. He continues on and finds photos that are definitely from when the Osborns had just returned to New York. Tony sees pictures of them together, kissing, smiling, or laying together. Then there are so many of just Harry himself: there’s a mix of shots clearly taken when Harry wasn’t looking and when he was, and an uncomfortable amount of them display Harry in Peter’s bed, shirtless or possibly nude.

In the final picture he looks at, Harry’s bare back is facing Peter. He looks closely and sees a mark on his shoulder: two hands locked together by the pinkies, like a promise. Tony stares at it for a moment, swearing he saw something similar recently. He looks back through the other pictures again, finding three that relate: one of the photos from their elementary school days shows the two boys sitting together in the grass with their pinky fingers together, another looks to be from middle school where they’re doing the same in desks at school, and the last is from their current time together where they’re at the dinner table doing it. Tony knows damn well what this means.

Peter is Harry’s soulmate as well as Tony’s.

Tony’s head aches as much as his heart by the time he’s done looking.

\---

“Quit stealing my fries!” Ned cries, slapping Peter’s hands away from his tray again.

“I can’t!”

“You have a problem, Peter,” Harry adds in. “Whether it’s kleptomania or fry obsession, it’s a recipe for disaster. But you can have mine.” He slides his tray in Peter’s direction, earning a bright grin in response. As Peter reaches for one, his sleeve rolls back just a tad and exposes his wrist. Harry’s eyes instantly snap to it, noticing something that he’s certain was not there before today. He waits until Peter’s finished off his fries before grabbing his hand and saying, “Hey, go to my locker with me?”

“Sure!” Peter collects his things, throwing both his and Harry’s trays away. “See you in class, Ned.” They head off, and Peter is a little confused when Harry leads him to the bathroom instead of his locker.

Harry checks that no one else is in there before he demands, “Show me your wrist.”

“What?”

“Show it to me, Peter.”

Although confused, Peter holds both of his wrists out to Harry, who quickly shoves his right sleeve up to reveal the new mark. Harry’s heart beats so fast looking at it. “When did this get here?”

“Today, I guess?” Peter is looking at it with confused eyes, seeming like he’s genuinely never seen it before.

“You didn’t notice it before now?”

“No… I don’t think so.”

“Pete, it… it’s the same as mine.”

The confusion in Peter’s eyes fades and he grins. “I wanna see.” Harry turns around and lets Peter pull down the top of his shirt to see his mark. “Of course it’s this,” Peter whispers, his fingers tracing the mark. “But why didn’t mine show up until now?”

Harry turns back around. “I once read this article that said sometimes there’s more than one person your soul fits perfectly with, and in that case only one of them shows up at the beginning. Once one mark forms on your skin, it’s hard for the other one to do so. I… I know you have another soulmate, I’ve obviously seen your other mark. And I know who it is, but I don’t care. Because now I know for sure I didn’t have a one-sided bond all these years, Pete. I know we’re really meant to be together.”

Peter is so happy about the situation it scares him. He can’t stop thinking about Tony. The fact that Harry knows Tony Stark is his other soulmate honestly freaks Peter the _fuck_ out. Almost as much as the fact that he has two soulmates does. He’s got a decision to make, but it’s not that hard. After all, only one of his soulmates even acknowledges his existence.

Harry grabs Peter’s hips and pulls him closer, Peter meeting him for a kiss. Peter lets himself melt into it and forget about any possible conflicting feelings.

\---

Tony finds himself wondering more and more frequently if it’s possible to have more than one soulmate. He’s been hoping it’s not, so that Peter would still be destined to be with him even while he’s dating Harry. He’s been avoiding looking into it for a long time, however, because he’s scared that it is possible.

Eventually he caves, after two more months of knowing about Harry’s mark.

What he finds is exactly what he’d been hoping he wouldn’t.

\---

The summer before his senior year of high school, Peter decides to confront his feelings. One day late June, he stands outside Stark Tower, preparing himself for the upcoming conversation. He has to get up secretively to avoid security, but he quickly makes it up to Tony’s office. He knocks a few times, walking in when he hears a gruff “Come in” from inside. The look of shock on Tony’s face when he walks in is a lot more satisfying than it probably should be.

“Kid?” Tony calls out softly, having been expecting literally anyone else to open his door.

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter says. Tony doesn’t think it’s fair, that he can say that and have no idea how much it hurts to have reverted back to just the Mr. So impersonal, he thinks.

“What can I do for you?”

“We need to talk.”

“What is there to talk about, Peter?” Tony asks, raising a brow and folding his hands on the desk before him. He knows.

“I know you told me to wait, but I didn’t realize that meant you wouldn’t even speak to me for two and a half years.”

“Kid, if we’d stayed in contact, it wouldn’t have worked.”

“Why?” Peter asks, moving closer to the desk.

“It just wouldn’t have, okay? Let it go.”

“No. Tell me.”

Tony narrows his eyes and walks around the desk to stand directly in front of Peter. “Because if we’d stayed in contact, I wouldn’t be able to control myself. Happy?”

“You seem to be controlling yourself just fine right now.”

“God, kid, you’re exasperating!” Tony rubs the bridge of his nose in frustration. “What do you want from me?”

“I just want you to tell me how you really feel about all this!” Peter exclaims, throwing his hands up in irritation.

That’s when Tony sees it.

Tony grabs Peter’s wrist and stares at it, recognizing the mark to be identical to the one he’d seen on Osborn’s kid. “When did you get this?”

“Like two months ago. Maybe you’d have known if you hadn’t totally cut me off.”

Tony gives in and pushes Peter against his desk, grabbing his face firmly. “Peter, why are you here?”

“I already said. To find out how you really feel. About me,” Peter answers, surprised.

“Isn’t it obvious? Kid, I think about you every damn day. I think about throwing you on my bed or shoving you against a wall and just fucking you. And knowing someone else has been doing that for months makes me want it even more, it pisses me off to no end, Peter. You were mine first, it’s supposed to stay that way.”

“I- Tony…”

“Yeah, of course. You don’t even know what to say. I can’t do this, Peter. Get out.”

“What?”

Tony steps back. “Get the fuck out of my office.”

Peter opens his mouth to protest, quickly shutting it and scurrying out of the room instead.

\---

Later in the summer, Harry takes Peter to the beach. Harry himself doesn’t go in the water, but he watches Peter as he lays out on a chair under an umbrella in the sand. Peter doesn’t stay in for long, getting bored on his own. When he gets out and jogs across the sand in Harry’s direction, Harry vaguely thinks it’s just like a wet dream (pun intended). Seeing his boyfriend with the sun shining on him, water dripping down his abs and sticking his hair to his forehead is definitely something Harry has imagined before.

“Hey, Pete,” he greets once Peter is beside him. Peter smiles and leans over him, water dripping onto his face as he kisses him. “You’re getting me wet.” Harry doesn’t really mind.

“Sorry,” Peter says with a short laugh. “I’m getting a hot dog.”

Just after Peter runs off to the food cart on the edge of the sand, his phone rings from his bag. Curious, Harry grabs it and sees who’s calling. A faint sense of rage fills his gut and he can’t stop himself from answering the call. The person on the other end starts rambling instantly.

“ _Look, kid, I’m sorry. I am. I shouldn’t have yelled at you last month when you came to my office, I shouldn’t have said any of that. It was inappropriate and wrong, I-_ ”

“Touching story,” Harry says, cutting him off. “But I’m afraid you’re preaching to the wrong choir.”

A pause, and then, “ _Who is this?_ ”

“Harry Osborn at your service. It’s lovely to finally speak to you, Mr. Stark.” Harry can’t keep the smugness out of his voice.

“ _Why do you have Peter’s phone? No, actually, I don’t care. Goodbye._ ”

“Hanging up so fast?”

“ _Why wouldn’t I?_ ”

“I thought we could chat. Y’know, since we’ve got so much in common.”

“ _I believe you’re mistaken, Osborn._ ”

“Oh, am I? Sorry, you’re right, I must be confusing you with Peter’s _other_ soulmate.”

“ _Yeah, okay, I’m not having this conversation._ ”

“Before you go, I’d just like make sure we’re on the same page about this.”

“ _And what page is that?_ ”

“You may think Peter was yours first, since his mark for you showed up before mine, but he wasn’t. I’ve known Peter for ten years, long before you even knew who he was. Peter Parker has always been mine, and he always will be. I’m sure you don’t think he was saving his virginity for you, do you? Somehow you already knew he and I were soulmates as well before this conversation, so this can’t be news to you. Oh, and I’m sure you’re sitting there right now thinking, ‘This kid can’t intimidate me, he’s only seventeen.’ But trust me, Stark, I can bring you down with minimal effort if you ever lay a hand on what’s mine. Or did you forget who my father is?” Harry looks up and sees Peter making his way back over. “That’s all. Have a splendid day, Mr. Stark.” He hangs up and quickly tosses Peter’s phone back where he got it from. “Hello again,” he says, opening his arms in invitation.

Peter comes over and straddles Harry in his chair, giving him a bite of his hot dog. “That line was so long I almost died.”

“I’m glad you survived it, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this anymore.” Harry pulls Peter down and kisses him.

Peter pulls back after just a short moment with a smile and continues eating his hot dog. He sits back a bit on Harry’s thighs and says, “What a perfect day! The sun is shining, I’ve got this amazing hot dog in my hand, and I’m with the boy I love the most. What could be better?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

\---

“So there’s something I’ve been wondering for a while but keep forgetting to ask,” Harry says offhandedly on the way home, one hand on the wheel and the other on Peter’s thigh. (He hates driving, but Peter hates when his chauffeur takes them anywhere and doesn’t have his own license.)

“What’s up?”

“How do you even know Tony Stark?” Harry tries to keep his cool asking it, but the whole subject just aggravates him to no end.

“Oh! I didn’t tell you? I had a, um, internship at Stark Industries in tenth grade.”

“How would he have gotten to know you well enough through that to even realize his soulmark represented you?”

“I worked directly for him.”

“Yeah, I get that, but why would you be talking to him about yourself as just an intern?”

“I don’t know, Harry, we just got along really well, okay?”

“ _Obviously_. Did anything ever happen? Did you talk about your bond?” Harry hates his tone he’s using, but his jealousy is getting the best of him.

“We talked about it, but nothing happened.” Peter turns his head to the side, looking out the window.

Harry can see right through it. Peter’s lying, he’s sure. “I don’t believe you.”

“Fine, I tried to kiss him. But he shoved me away and shot me down because I’m a _kid_ and he’s forty-whatever, and lectured me about it even though he kissed me too and it didn’t make any sense. But he told me to let it go and to get the fuck out, so I’m pretty sure you’ve got nothing to worry about, okay? God,” Peter tells him, clearly showing how much it bothered him to be talking about it at all.

“He turned you down?”

“Yes, now can we please stop talking about him?”

“He’s a goddamn idiot, Pete. How could anyone turn you down? You’re absolutely perfect, Peter.”

Peter looks over at Harry and his expression softens again. “Pull over for a minute?”

Harry obeys and looks over to Peter once he turns the key. Peter stares back silently for a moment before they’re both slowly leaning forward for a soft kiss. Harry reaches up and places a gentle hand around Peter’s jaw, bringing a sigh past Peter’s lips as they kiss again and again.

By the time Peter gets home, the sun has long since set and May is already in bed. He walks into his bedroom and flicks on the light, finding he’s not alone.

“Tony? What are you doing here?” he asks, completely confused at the man’s presence.

“I’m sorry, but your boyfriend is a dick,” Tony says from his spot at Peter’s desk.

“What?”

“I called you earlier today, and was blessed with the opportunity to have a lovely chat with him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Tony stands up. “Well, he just so happened to more or less threaten me, which would be cute and all coming from a teenager if he didn’t actually have something on me that could ruin my reputation in an instant.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Peter, why would you tell him about us?”

“I didn’t!” Peter says, throwing his hands up in defense. “He just figured it out. He saw my soulmark for you the first time we had sex and I guess he just figured it out on his own. It’s not that hard to if you just look at it.”

Tony sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Fine, but either way, I don’t doubt he’ll leak our bond to the public if he ever knows I come near you. So, I’m sorry Peter, but we can’t see each other outside of saving the city.”

“I… fine.”

Tony heads to the door, and Peter wants nothing more than to stop him and beg him to stay.

Peter says nothing.

\---

As much as Peter wants to confront Harry about threatening Tony, he doesn’t. He can’t. He just goes on with life for the rest of the year up until graduation. He forgets about it for the most part and just stays happy with Harry.

When he gets home after the graduation ceremony, however, he sees a note on his desk.

_Come see me tonight._

_...carefully._

_TS_

Peter grins, waiting until it’s dark out to sneak out his window. He gets to Stark Tower as quickly as he can, Tony’s door opening as soon as he reaches it. He’s pulled inside and greeted with a smile. “Hey, kid.”

“Hey.”

“How was graduation?”

“Great. I was valedictorian and I think everyone liked my speech.”

“Valedictorian, eh? I expect no less from you. Good job,” Tony says, his praise making Peter feel so special. He steps closer to Peter and puts his hands on his waist.

Peter knows what’s coming. He wants it, but he also doesn’t anymore. He would’ve killed for a moment like this back when he was fifteen and first finding out Tony Stark was his soulmate. But now, eighteen years old, he’s grown up. His childhood idol is just a man to him now. Peter’s fallen so in love with Harry over the past two years they’ve been together, he doesn’t think he’ll ever want to be with anyone else. He thinks maybe if he’d just been a couple years older when he’d first met Tony, they could’ve made it work. He would be in love with him, and he would want to Tony to kiss him right now.

But he was fifteen, and Tony did nothing but repeatedly push him away.

Peter thinks maybe if Tony had rejected him a little less harshly, he wouldn’t have dated Harry and he would’ve just waited until now. It’s his turn, he supposes, to say no.

Peter steps away and Tony’s hands fall at his sides. “I can’t.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t want this. I- Harry- I… just want to be friends?”

Tony steps further back and narrows his eyes. “Then why did you even come?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know, okay? I just… I missed you, Tony. We haven’t talked in a year and I missed you.”

“Peter... I think you should leave.”

“What?”

“Leave. We can talk another time.”

Honestly, Peter isn’t surprised. Pushing people away has always been Tony’s specialty, after all. “Fine,” he says, leaving without another word.

The minute Peter’s gone, Tony grabs a glass from the table at throws it at the wall in his rage. After all this time, all this misery Tony thought was mutual, the kid rejects him the minute they can finally be together? It doesn’t make any sense to Tony. This is why he wishes he’d fully given up on the entire concept of soulmates all those years ago. He knew this was an awful idea going in, he just hadn’t been expecting his heart to be the one that was broken in the end.

For the first time in ages, he hears his father’s voice in his head and reflects on just how utterly _wrong_ it keeps proving to be.

_“You will not be alone, I promise. Never.”_

Yeah, sure.

\---

Peter takes his time walking home, feeling a lot worse than he thinks he should. He’d already figured out all of his feelings before visiting Tony, and he’d gone in knowing what he’d have to say. It’s just sad, he supposes, having to let go of all of his memories of Tony.

Because that’s what he was doing, after all.

Letting him go.

When he gets home, he calls Harry and actually tells him everything. He doesn’t leave a single detail out (except, of course, the ones that involve Spiderman). It feels a bit like starting over, which is exactly what he thinks he needs.

 

**FIN.**


End file.
